Colonial army ?

The Turkish army has been paradoxically the most respected institution in Turkey while it has been at the heart of most of its problems.

At the establishment of Turkey (1923), the army was staffed with a foreign-oriented elite speaking fluently English or French. These officers were seeking to belong to European circles and were accompanying the reforms of Ataturk (sometimes called 'westernization') with enthusiasm. They often became at different level part of the administration. This is how their role of protector of state (by opposition to protector of the people) started to be entrenched in the minds and souls. This has been further relayed by foreign powers (at the beginning England and France and after 1945 the United States). With the rise of Russia, the army grew in an alignment with NATO that soon became a simple subordinate of Western Powers. Secret services were infiltrated and global aim was to keep the country as a reliable asset at any cost. Most countries were cooperating and discussing with Turkey mostly through army channels.
The objectives of the army and the objectives of the Turkish people have thus been very often divergent. This explains why military coups and instability of the youth have prevailed mostly when international tensions were high.
Since the fall of USSR and the end of Cold War, the opportunity to redesign the role of the army have constantly raised and with reforms driven by AKP, the core of the issue is about to appear. No country can afford an army that is more obedient to NATO influence than to members of its own executive. Army has also been one of the most conservative force and as any army is not preoccupied firstly by human-rights or rule-of-law issues which had became a signature of Turkey for decades. Only integration of Turkey in Europe has helped limiting this drive thanks to interests of European Powers to limit the influence of America in Turkey.
Now Turkey has a vivid economy (dynamic, with a lot of competition) and can only restore the place it should have kept by reinforcing the very foundations of the Republic : keeping Anatolia's fate under the direction of all the Turks.

Turkey in the forefront for taming Russia

Can Turkey once again act as the brake to the expansion of russian sphere of influence? There is no easy answer to this but we can see that the hotspots of active diplomacy more and more threatens turkish renewed interests in its own historical sphere of influence. Promises of better relations with Russia surface in many countries all around Turkey and it is necessary to act before Russia gets a too strong hand. It is very meaningfull that all the areas under trouble and mostly many frozen conflicts are linked or even maintained by Russia. Is Russia troublesome only to people wanting to avoid a multipolar world? No. Russia pretends to the old place that USSR once occupied and is ready to use all means for this.

It is significant that Turkey started to act to remove some energy keys from the hands of Russia by realizing the BTC, contracts with Iran and other projects aimed to reach the status of "energy hub". This is however temporary relief and does not mean the battles are over. We should see Turkey prove it can bring more than dangers to the regions of Caucasus and Central Asia. For this, a strong cultural activity would be the best way to relay the increase in economic interests known by the parties. Such an activity could also gets the interest of EU and it is possible to imagine cooperation between EU and Turkey to strenghten this traditional area of influence of Turkey. This is the time when it is possible to cool down the fireplaces and bring Russia closer to cooperation with the "West". Putin may be weaker that it has been and while his targets remain high, his realizations lack any more idea than reenforcing the status quo (or bringing back a form of USSR).